The convict was subsequently arraigned at Ado-Ekiti High Court in Ekiti before Justice Monisola Abodunde on one count bordering on rape.
A 65-year-old man, identified as Durodola Ogundele has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping his 85-year-old stepmother at Ayetoro Ekiti in the Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
The state police command in June 2021 arrested Ogundele for allegedly raping his 85-year-old stepmother in her room.
According to the spokesperson for the state police command, ASP Abutu Sunday, the suspect, who is the son of the victim's late husband raped the aged woman on June 15, 2021, after helping the victim to rub herbal balm on her legs.
The convict was subsequently arraigned at Ado-Ekiti High Court in Ekiti before Justice Monisola Abodunde on one count bordering on rape, Vanguard reports.
The offence is contrary to section 2 of the Ekiti State Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition) Law, 2019.
The victim’s daughter, Opeyemi Bolaji in her testimony before the court, said, "I came to give my mother breakfast; on getting to her, I found her in an unsettling physical condition.
“After eating and upon further prompting to find out the reason for her restlessness, she told me that the defendant did not allow her to sleep. She said the defendant came to her room around 1:00 am, he rubbed a balm all over her body, including her anus and vagina, massaged her body, sucked her breast and forcefully had sex with her.
“When I tried to find out from the defendant, he said, my mother must have been dreaming.”
To prove his case, the prosecutor, Folasade Alli, called five witnesses including the Investigating Police Officer and a medical practitioner, she tendered the victim’s statements, defendants’ statements, and a medical report from Federal Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti among others as exhibits.
The defendant spoke in his own defence through his counsel, M.O. Folorunso, and called no witnesses.
Justice Monisola Abodunde, in her judgment, ruled that the defendant actually committed the offence.
“I am, therefore, not in doubt that prosecution has finally established through circumstantial evidence, that is cogent, compelling and most conclusively, that the defendant intentionally and calculatedly penetrated the vagina and anus of the victim with his penis after rubbing a dark balm on her body and private parts.
“On the whole, I find that prosecution had discharged an evidential burden placed on them in law by circumstantial evidence, supported by the totality of the combined evidence of the witnesses, corroborated by the extra-judicial statements of the victim made at the earliest opportunity.
“The defendant is found guilty as charged for Rape contrary to Section 2 of the Ekiti State Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition Law) 2019 and he is convicted, and accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment in line with Section 2 (2) of Ekiti State Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition Law) 2019.”